NASA said water vapor ejected from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano into the stratosphere may have a warming effect on Earth’s global average temperature.
Did you know that volcanic eruptions can blast columns of water vapor into the stratosphere? According to information provided by NASA Earth, the Hunga Tonga-Ha’apai volcano erupted on January 15 and ejected a plume of water vapor into the stratosphere. NASA further advises that this water vapor may have a small, temporary warming effect on Earth’s global average temperature. “When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on January 15, it shot a plume of water vapor into the stratosphere. This additional water vapor, as detected by @NASA’s Aura satellite, may have a small, temporary warming effect on Earth’s Global Average Temperature,” NASA Earth tweeted.
The massive amount of water vapor released into the atmosphere, as detected by NASA’s Microwave Limb Instrument, may cause the Earth’s surface to temporarily warm. Explaining the incident, NASA said in a report: “When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on January 15, it sent a tsunami racing around the world and produced a sonic boom that circled the globe twice. The underwater eruption across the South Pacific also blasted a huge plume of water vapor into Earth’s stratosphere – enough to fill more than 58,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The amount of water vapor alone can be enough to temporarily affect Earth’s global average temperature.
In the study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, Luis Millan, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, and his colleagues estimate that the Tongan eruption sent about 146 teragrams (1 teragram equals a trillion grams) of water vapor in the Earth’s stratosphere – equal to 10% of the water already present in this atmospheric layer. That’s nearly four times the amount of water vapor scientists estimate the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines sent up into the stratosphere.
Milan analyzed data from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) instrument on NASA’s Aura satellite, which measures atmospheric gases, including water vapor and ozone. After the Tonga volcano erupted, the MLS team began seeing water vapor readings that were off the charts.
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It may be known that volcanic eruptions rarely inject much water into the stratosphere. In the 18 years that NASA has been taking measurements, only two other eruptions — the 2008 Kasatochi event in Alaska and the 2015 Calbuco eruption in Chile — have sent significant amounts of water vapor to such high altitudes.
But these were mere flashes compared to the Tonga event, and the water vapor from the two previous eruptions dissipated quickly. Excess water vapor injected by the Tonga volcano, on the other hand, can remain in the stratosphere for several years, NASA said.
This extra water vapor can affect the chemistry of the atmosphere by enhancing certain chemical reactions that could temporarily worsen the depletion of the ozone layer. It can also affect surface temperatures. Massive volcanic eruptions such as Krakatoa and Mount Pinatubo typically cool the Earth’s surface by spewing gases, dust and ash that reflect sunlight back into space.
In contrast, the Tonga volcano did not inject large amounts of aerosols into the stratosphere, and the huge amounts of water vapor from the eruption may have had a small, temporary warming effect because water vapor traps heat. The effect will dissipate as the additional water vapor leaves the stratosphere and will not be enough to noticeably worsen the effects of climate change.
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